Tech: GreenEdge unveils Scott road and TT bikes for 2012 season

As the GreenEdge team continues to build towards its debut 2012 season and, it hopes, a UCI ProTeam licence, the bikes it will use have been unveiled.

The team was already known to be in a contract with Scott bikes, and has now released images of both the road and time trial frames. Each features the Australian green, white and gold colours, reflecting the strong national identity of the team, as well as its links to Cycling Australia.

The riders will use the Scott Foil Aero Road frame in road races, then rely on the Plasma 3 time trial bike in races against the clock.

Aerodynamics is a major concern, as emphasised by GreenEdge general manager Shayne Bannan. “The fewer watts, or the least amount of energy, a rider needs to produce to go at the speed of the peloton the fresher he’ll be at the crucial part of a race, which highlights how important it is to have the best bike available,” Bannan stated.

He said that the team had decided the Scott Foil was the best option in this regard, and also in terms of stiffness and weight.

Scott previously supplied bikes to the HTC Highroad team, and was to be the frame of choice for the Pegasus Sports team. It was hoping to obtain a ProTeam licence for this season but was ultimately unsuccessful and collapsed. However in switching to an association with GreenEdge, the company looks likely to be backing a top level Aussie pro team in 2012.

Its vice president Pascal Ducrot said that a lot of thought had gone into the aero nature of the frames. “Given the greater range of variables in a road race, that aren’t a factor in a time trial, it wasn’t a simple case of replicating a time trial bike design on a normal road bike.

“Plus a lot of the aero shapes for bikes are based on models and ratios created for airplanes by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), but these ratios do not necessarily apply to bikes because of the much lower speeds. So our engineers have developed specific tube shapes that maximise aerodynamic efficiency at lower speeds.”

With strict UCI rules preventing teams from announcing their riders prior to September 1st, GreenEdge is yet to confirm those who will compete with it next year. However it is expected to secure the services of many of Australia’s top riders. Robbie McEwen and Matthew Lloyd are two who have been linked to the team.